Queries about Gauteng crime prevention wardens dubbed AmaPanyaza
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Crime prevention wardens during a pass-out parade in Soshanguve. Picture: Supplied
Johannesburg - After acting mayor of Joburg Kenny Kunene led illegal building raids in the Johannesburg CBD in areas like Hillbrow, many asked whether Gauteng Crime Prevention Wardens (AmaPanyaza) would be deployed there. The office of the premier said that they did not deal with deployment but rather with policing issues.
Spokesperson for Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Vuyo Mhaga, said that the deployment of law enforcement agencies was something that was done by the SAPS in the province, specifically under Gauteng Police Commissioner Elias Mawela.
“They are the ones running operations, so they will know where the demand is needed,” he said.
He said that it would be a populist stance to respond to what happened when the raid took place.
“If you use a scientific approach, which is more likely to be your crime stats, you are able to say that according to this science, the pressure is in this area and not in this one. But the premier, because he is not an operational person, he is a politician, he can't then dictate where these police are supposed to go,” added Mhaga.
He said that it would be wrong for Lesufi to direct what law enforcement should do; that would be interference.
Mhaga said Lesufi could only identify resources and leave operational matters to those with enough knowledge and skill in issues such as crime prevention to administer matters such as deployment.
The Patriot Alliance deputy president, who led the raid, was joined by mayoral committee for safety and security Mgcini Tshwaku and member of mayoral committee for City of Joburg Human Settlements Department, Anthea Leitch.
In an interview with Newzroom Afrika, Kunene said the City of Joburg was also concerned that criminals often used the hijacked buildings as hideouts.
“Once you hijack a building, you have committed a crime. The word ‘hijack’ means you have occupied that building illegally. When you are now being removed, you want to use the law to say there is a process of removing people,” he said.
He did, however, get criticism from the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa, which said his actions of evicting illegal occupants in some of the City of Joburg’s abandoned buildings were unlawful and inhumane.
The organisation’s spokesperson, Edward Molopi, said that during these raids, the team conducted searches, threatened to evict residents, and was recorded demolishing one building in Windsor East, all without any authorising court order.
The Star